Vocabulary of Rotokas--Pidgin--English

2.0 ORTHOGRAPHY. The Rotokas language is spoken by approx-
imately 4,200 people living in the Kieta Sub-District of
Bougainville Island. There are three dialects which have been
designated: Aita, Pipipaia, and Rotokas Proper. The ortho-
graphy and majority of words are from the Rotokas Proper dia-
lect.

In the Rotokas Proper dialect the following sounds are
heard: a 3 e> i 3 o 3 u 3 g 3 k 3 p 3 r 3 s 3 t 3 v. The pronunciation
of these sounds is as follows:

2.1 VOWELS.

a as in father

e as in bed

i as in machine

o as in pole

u as in pool

The long vowels: aa 3 ee 3 ii 3 oo y and uu axe pronounced
as single vowels but are held over a longer period of time.

2.2

CONSONANTS

9

as

in

k

as

in

V

as

in

go (In the middle of the word it is very
soft.)

rocker

pepper

r is made by a quick tap of the tongue on the roof
of the mouth, similar to a quick d. (It might be
described as the sound in the word very as spoken
by a precise Englishman.)

s as in seal (It often sounds more like ts and is
always followed by the i sound.)

t as in tape

v as in bat (The lips are not completely closed.)

vii

Firchow, Irwin B., Jacqueline Firchow, and David Akoitai, compilers.
1973. Vocabulary of Rotokas-Pidgin-English. Ukarumpa: Summer
Institute of Linguistics, xii, 393 p.